Nassau, Bahamas – The Bahamas Reef Environment Educational Foundation (BREEF) recently hosted a one-day workshop under the theme, “Exposing Marine Pollution”.
Photo 1: YRE student takes photo of discarded crawfish head during workshop.
Thirty students from senior high schools in New Providence gathered at Delaporte Beach on West Bay Street where they participated in hands-on activities and learned more about marine conservation.
The Young Reporters for the Environment (YRE) event inspired students to gain knowledge through discussions with environmental and media professionals, who gave presentations on how to tell a story using photos, video, and writing.
Environmental Scientist Dr. Ancilleno Davis, Photographer Dominic Duncombe, Journalist Crystal Darling, and Videographer Ryan Farquharson fully engaged students throughout the day with presentations aimed at strengthening and developing their marine environmental reporting skills.
Photo 2: YRE Student Tomia Hamilton documents marine plastic pollution at Photojournalism Workshop
CR Walker student, Santino Miller shared that he was inspired by the event, explaining that his heart is set on working in the field as a geologist someday.
“We learned that there are many different things that you can do in order to help with marine conservation; simply by not littering you can help a lot and I will explain this to my peers when I go to school,” he said.
Photo 3: Students of C.R. Walker Senior High School participated in a beach cleanup during the workshop.
“We learned the different ways to properly frame and take a photo,” another student, Iyah-Eden Rolle said. She continued, “We also did a beach cleanup which made me realize how much trash in our environment that we have to make an effort to properly clean.”
Ministry of Agriculture and Marine Resources Public Relations official Kandea Smith made a closing presentation outlining the importance of storytelling with students.
“At the ministry it is my departments’ job to tell a story of what the ministry is doing to improve the community” She continued.
“So BREEF was a perfect partner, giving us the opportunity to talk to the kids today about conservation, especially coral conservation; it’s a big part of what we do, we tell stories almost every day,” Smith expressed.
Environmental education is essential, according to BREEF Executive Director Casuarina McKinney-Lambert who noted that as an archipelagic nation, The Bahamas is greatly affected by what happens in its waters.
Photo 4: Group photo of the participants at the Young Reporters for the Environment workshop
“The Young Reporters for the Environment programme challenges young people to look at the ocean and the land around them, identify challenges and also think about solutions and think about effective ways of communicating about what’s going on in the ocean around us,” she said.
BREEF is the National Operator for the Young Reporters for the Environment (YRE) programme in The Bahamas. The global programme aims to empower students aged 11-25 to take a stand on environmental issues they feel strongly about and give them a platform to call attention to these issues through the media of writing, photography, or video. There are more than 350,000 young reporters in 45 countries across the world.
The YRE workshop was made possible through the support of the Rolex Perpetual Planet initiative, Lombard Odier & Cie (Bahamas) Ltd. and the Sean Connery Foundation.
BREEF “Exposing Marine Pollution” Workshop
